The Second Day of the Congress

"Hello?"

Hermione picked up the receiver and put it to her ear. As soon as she spoke, Wendell's urgent greeting came from the other end of the line. However, his voice was so loud that it made her ears ring, so Hermione had to hold the receiver away from her ear.

"..."

"Hmm... it's alright, Dad, don't worry."

Hermione whispered reassurances, "Yes... yes, you can come back now."

The sound from the receiver paused for a moment, indicating that the person on the other end of the line had changed.

"Mom!" Hermione's little face became more serious, but her voice was even softer, sounding somewhat guilty. "Yes, we had a normal lunch... the lunch provided by the hotel..."

"What! You want to ask the front desk?" Hermione's expression began to panic, and she quickly tried to salvage the situation, "We came out of the International Confederation of Wizards venue quite late, so we ordered food from a restaurant outside and brought it back to eat."

"What... why not eat at the restaurant... why not eat at the restaurant..."

Hermione's eyes darted left and right. She was a little annoyed. Why did her mother ask about her lunch instead of the magical events of the past few days? What was so interesting about lunch?

She's already eaten more than half of it, so how can we expect her to throw it up now? We can only discipline her when she gets back.

Loren found the girl's ever-changing expression somewhat amusing, and approached her with a glass of orange soda, standing beside her.

Hermione repeated it several times, and after racking her brains for an answer, she hurriedly replied, "Because there are too many people in the restaurant, and Loren and I need to talk about magic, so it's not convenient to do it outside. Yes, that's it."

Loren smiled and put the straw in his mouth, deliberately making a loud slurping sound, making it clear that someone was drinking soda.

He heard Monica's voice on the phone suddenly become sharp. "What restaurant? What exactly did you eat for lunch?"

"Food... food..." Hermione stammered, unable to come up with a suitable lie, and glared at Loren resentfully.

They were just about to end the conversation, but this person ruined it all. Hermione was both flustered and furious, her expression incredibly amusing.

Monica, on the other end of the line, was losing patience and said, "Stop thinking about it. Give the phone to Loren, and I'll talk to him."

"Oh..."

Hermione slowly handed over the phone, and while Loren was holding the phone in one hand and a soda in the other, she took a big gulp through the straw, making a loud gurgling sound as she drank from the plastic cup.

Loren found it amusing. "Good afternoon, Monica."

Hermione leaned closer and listened intently.

"Good afternoon, Loren. Tell me what you had for lunch?"

"Hmm... let me see..." Loren replied slowly, "I had bread, beef patties, pickles, and lettuce salad for lunch, and I also drank orange juice."

Hermione's eyes widened in shock; she was completely stunned.

Why does the way you described it make junk food suddenly seem nutritionally balanced?

That sounds so healthy.

"Um... yes, okay... don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her."

Loren chatted with Monica for a while, and soon the person on the other end of the phone was Grandpa Bates.

"Is it all over?"

"It's over."

Are you injured?

"No."

See you tomorrow.

"See you tomorrow, Grandpa Bates."

The veteran's words were too concise, even somewhat aloof. Loren thought it was probably because the Mr. and Mrs. Granger were there; otherwise, they might have pressed him for answers.

After hanging up the phone, I saw that the little Witch next to me was still in shock, looking dazed and confused.

Loren couldn't resist pinching her cheek.

Mmm, it's soft, tender, and bouncy; the feel is fantastic.

Hermione's eyes slowly focused. She looked at him, then back at the unfinished cheeseburger, and murmured, "Bread, beef patty, pickles, salad?"

"Hmm, is there a problem?"

"..."

Hermione shook her head, looking down at the hotel logo on the toe of her slippers. In terms of grammatical skills, she would probably never catch up with Loren.

I still need to study.

Woolworth Building, the venue for the International Wizarding Congress.

Dumbledore had changed into a silver-white robe, making him appear much gentler. He mostly remained silent in the main seat, occasionally applauding insightful remarks. He seemed to have become a dutiful old wizard, a witness rather than a participant.

In the front row of the press section, a woman with golden curly hair and elaborate, heavy makeup watched as the automatic writing quill pen wrote detailed records of memories on parchment. Compared to those, she seemed more interested in the old wizard with white hair and beard, and her heavy, jeweled glasses kept glancing at Dumbledore.

Rita had many questions in her mind.

When the Werewolf Inferi incident occurred, she was in a city hundreds of kilometers away and missed many news details, but she managed to find out an exclusive story from the New York Spectator using special methods... The point that concerned her most was Dumbledore, Dumbledore had been missing for some time at the time of the incident.

Where did he go at that time?

What role did he play in this incident?

What secrets does this Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, the president of the International Confederation of Wizards, hold?

Rita was filled with curiosity, like a Beetle perched on the outside of a flower bud that was about to open, its wings fluttering eagerly.

The conference entered its second day, and the topics discussed remained largely agreed upon, such as prohibiting wizards from using the guise of magicians to trick Muggle, banning the use of Flying Spell or Flying Spell items to approach giant steel birds flying in the sky, and even prohibiting the use of Disillusionment Charm...

The speakers on the stage passionately expressed their political views, while the reporters below flew their quills across the floor.

Loren sat in the corner of the audience, while Hermione listened more attentively than the reporters, scribbling in her notebook with a ballpoint pen and occasionally turning to offer her personal opinions.

He's long-winded and serious, like a bored adult.

Loren verbally expressed his support, saying, "Yes, write all of this down, and bring it up when you become Minister for Magic and attend the International Wizarding Congress..."

Hermione thought he was being sarcastic.

The topics kept changing, and the speaker was the Director of the Division of Magical Creatures Affairs at the Magical Congress of the United States of America:

"Next, we'll discuss the ' Ban on Experimental Breeding ' and the ' Protection of Magical Creatures Act,' both proposed and passed by Newt Scamander in 1965. Over the past thirty years, these two laws have helped us protect rare Fantastic Beasts while also helping them hide from Muggle in the Fantastic Beasts world..."

As with other topics, before formally presenting his proposals and viewpoints, the Director gave a lengthy explanation of the role and origin of the regulations, though many wizards in the American Magical Congress had somewhat complicated expressions.

A Basilisk was a key contributor to resolving the Werewolf Inferi incident two days prior.

As everyone knows, there is an old wizard in the Wizarding World who gets very close to Fantastic Beasts, especially the most dangerous ones.

Coincidentally, many years ago New York also suffered a major magical terrorist attack, which was also averted by a Class 5X dangerous Fantastic Beasts.

The same magical terror attack, the same Fantastic Beasts.

Many wizards couldn't help but wonder: Could there be such a coincidence in the Wizarding World?

In the center of the hall, the spokesperson for the American Magical Congress, having finished presenting the materials, finally put forward his own viewpoint. "We recommend revising some outdated clauses and provisions in the regulations, while also addressing the loopholes that have occurred in the implementation of the regulations in recent years, mainly including the following aspects..."

The number of respondents was large.

This is yet another issue on which consensus has been reached.

Loren and Hermione slowly walked out of the temporary restaurant in Woolworth Building. The House-elf skilled cooks and the food they served was delicious. However, in such a formal setting, while the other guests were talking about grand topics such as wizards and Muggle, Werewolf and Vampire, Fire Dragon and Basilisk, the two of them felt a little out of place as they talked about the lunch dishes, which were not as satisfying as the cheese and beef burgers.

I ate until I was about 70% full and then left the restaurant. The corridor was now empty, with only a few staff members passing by from time to time.

The American Magical Congress has opened the bottom 20 floors of Woolworth Building to the public, and visitors are free to explore if they wish.

But Loren only wanted to take a walk after dinner, and Hermione accompanied him.

The corridor is mostly filled with portraits of people, including past presidents of Congress, the original twelve Founders of the Aurors, and some wizards with outstanding achievements.

In addition, there are narrative portraits that tell the history of the American Magical Congress from its founding to the present day.

The American Magical Congress was founded in 1693, following the Salem Witch Trials and the enactment of the Secrecy Law. Representatives from many North America Magical Cube communities were elected to draft the law, and a warlike wizard named Josiah Jackson became the first president of the Magical Congress.

In those circumstances, belligerence and courage were always inspiring.

The first task of the Magical Congress after its establishment was to try and execute those Scourers had betrayed their kind. Those who had committed murder, trafficking in wizards, torture, and other atrocities often possessed powerful magical abilities, and Josiah Jackson, upon becoming its chairman, immediately recruited and trained Aurors.

The original twelve Aurors fought their way out of the chaotic region and established order and law, but at the cost of only two of them living to old age.

In the 18th century, the American Magical Congress built a large magical building in the Appalachian Mountains as its headquarters. In 1760, Thorne Hakkaway was elected president, and the American Magical Congress moved to Williamsburg, Virginia.

The chairman was a Fantastic Beasts expert, and at the time, there were no laws prohibiting the private breeding of Fantastic Beasts. He bred a Swallowtail Dog that was highly aggressive towards non-magical individuals. After the Swallowtail Dog bred by Hakawi viciously attacked local Muggle, seriously violating the Statute of Secrecy, Hakawi was forced to resign.

Subsequently, the headquarters of the Magical Congress moved to several cities, including Baltimore and Washington.

During the American Revolutionary War, the American Magical Congress secretly sheltered a large number of Muggle war refugees, leaving behind many urban legends and strange tales.

In the late 18th century, Dorcas Twelve Trees, daughter of Aristotle Twelve Trees, the treasure and Dragon Coin administrator of the American Magical Congress, became infatuated with a handsome Muggle named Bartholomew Barryborn. She revealed to him the secret locations of the Magical Congress and Ilvermorny, information about the International Confederation of Wizards, and all their methods for protecting and concealing magical society.

No one expected that Bartholomew was a descendant of the Scourers. After gathering as much information as possible from Dorcas, Bartholomew stole her wand and exposed all the magical intelligence he had collected, resulting in a serious violation of the Secrecy Law.

The American Magical Congress received a stern warning from the International Confederation of Wizards, and for centuries afterward, the International Wizarding Congress did not choose the United States as a venue for its conferences until this year.

Bartholomew Barryborn's actions ultimately led to the largest memory erasure operation since the enactment of the Statute of Secrecy, nearly resulting in the resignation of Emily Potter, then president of the Magical Congress. The incident ended with Barryborn being imprisoned by the Muggle Government for shooting people.

Loren looked on with a puzzled expression. "So the American Magical Congress never dealt with Barryburn back then. If he hadn't been imprisoned, there would have been more time for exposure and more memory erasure operations?"

Hermione's expression was also somewhat complicated. Looking at the text on the narrative portrait, she hesitated for a long time, unsure of what to say.

Dumbledore looked at the puzzled expressions on the two young wizards' faces and chuckled softly, "Have you tried looking at this from a different perspective?"

Loren and Hermione then noticed the extra person beside them and exclaimed in surprise:

"Professor Dumbledore!"

When did you arrive?

"When you witnessed the Swallowtail Dog incident," Dumbledore with a smile, his long, white beard and eyebrows swaying gently, his silver-white robes exuding a gentle and approachable aura, "From another perspective, even in such a critical and urgent situation, the wizards of the American Magical Congress did not use magic against an ordinary person, or as they call him, Muggle."

Loren and Hermione paused for a moment, then fell into thought.

Yes, even in such a critical and urgent situation, the American Magical Congress did not use magic to kill Barryborn, nor did it use magic to imprison him.

On the wall, a portrait of Chairwoman Emily Potter smiles and steps back, bowing to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore in return, then led Loren and Hermione onward. "Well, I have something to tell you, Loren."

"You say."

"Wizard officials of the American Magical Congress are considering awarding Newt the Order of Merlin, First Class."

"Rolf's grandfather, what does this have to do with me?"

"They believe that the Basilisk in the Werewolf Inferi incident was commanded by Newt ..." Dumbledore stroked his white beard. "If you're willing to reveal your identity to the American Magical Congress, I can guarantee you'll receive the same honor."

Loren continued walking, waving his hand impatiently in refusal. "That sounds like a huge hassle."

Dumbledore's smile widened even more.